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http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Gentiles
A
Gentile refers to a non-
Israelite; the word is derived from the
Latin term
gens (meaning "
clan" or a "group of families") and is often employed in the plural.
Christian translators of the
Bible use this word to collectively designate the peoples and nations distinct from the Israelite people; the word is used that way over 130 times in the
King James Version of the Bible, in both the
Old and
New Testaments. From the
17th century on this term was most commonly used to refer to non-
Jews. In recent decades this use of the term has somewhat fallen out of favour, and "non-Jew" is typically used as a substitute.
Members of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who regard themselves as regathered formerly-lost Israelites, have also used the word "Gentile" to refer to those they view as non-Israelites. As such, this word is not appropriately applied to
Jews, although LDS members often colloquially referred to Jews as "Gentiles" because they were not members of the LDS Church. As with the more general usage, the word "Gentile" has fallen out of favour among younger LDS members (being regarded as antiquated and unnecessarily
pejorative), and the more neutral term "non-Mormon" is now more frequently used. Even this term is increasingly considered disrespectful, prompting many LDS to abandon "non-Mormon" altogether and simply use the term "neighbor", thus departing completely from labels of religious distinction out of an attempt to instead emphasize neighborly love. See also
Mormonism and Judaism.
The term has sometimes been used in the past as a synonym for
heathen or
pagan; this usage is
archaic.